Paper Wings
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: As Irma headed for the doors all that could be heard were her footsteps and the distant sound of those bloody paper birds.


**AN:** For the semi - finals of the QLFC. My team was given Irma Pince as a character and the Keeper position had to write about the reason behind wanting to work in their position in Hogwarts.

* * *

 **Paper Wings**

 **AlwaysPadfoot**

* * *

 **9:54AM**

 **10th February 1960**

* * *

"You are doing so well with these practice questions. How do you not already have a job, Irma?"

Irma half - smiled and readjusted her hair tie in the hallway mirror. She turned, her hands on her hips, and gave the woman opposite a pointed look.

"You know why." she replied. "I don't care about the other jobs; this is the one I've wanted since I was eleven."

Somehow saying it aloud made Irma feel even more anxious than she had before breakfast. Her interview at Hogwarts was at eleven o'clock sharp. The position was for an Assistant Librarian under Madam Deely. Her and Deely had gotten on so well in school so Irma was hoping that would give her an advantage over other candidates.

"You are such a bookworm." the other woman scoffed. "But I also think you're lying a little bit."

Irma frowned as she pulled on her jacket and coat over her light blue blouse. Dottie Morrison had her arms folded across her chest and the corners of her mouth twitched up into a smile. Her eyes twinkling like she knew something that Irma did not.

"What exactly am I lying about?" Irma asked dryly.

She didn't wait for the answer and exasperatedly bent down searching for the right shoes in the mountain of them by the door.

"You like the library because that's where we had our first conversation."

* * *

 **5:06PM**

 **4th November 1957**

* * *

About a week after Halloween Irma's whole experience of studying in Hogwarts' vast and mysterious library changed. As a seventh year she was sure that she'd discovered all the secrets, read all of the hidden books, and explored every depth of the restricted section.

What she could never predict though was who was going to be in the library that day. What events were going to happen? Would it be noisy or quiet? Last week the third years set the charms section on fire by accident (again) but today the library had been deathly silent. The dust from all the books hung in the air and was illuminated when the beams of autumnal sunlight hit them through the narrow windows.

Irma had taken up residence on a table in the 'NEWT Students Only' section to work on her Ancient Runes translations. All that could be heard was the occasional shuffle of feet as people passed in the aisles alongside the seating area.

It was late on Saturday afternoon and most of the girls in Slytherin house were preparing far too early in advance for tonight's party. Poppy, Irma's friend in Gryffindor, had agreed with her but was shadowing Madam Collington in the hospital wing. Therefore Irma had resigned to the library to keep out of all the party preparations until later that evening after her prefect shift. Getting ahead would not be so bad, she had already resolved to sleep in tomorrow, and whilst the library was quiet she could probably finish Ancient Runes work and History of Magic work before she had to meet with Poppy.

The books, those imbued with magic that was, hummed around her and made for a relaxing feeling. As for the quiet, to Irma, it helped to make a particularly productive environment.

Well, it was, until a small paper bird landed on her parchment.

Instantly her head snapped up in search of the culprit; her eyes darted in between the gaps in the shelves and all around but there was no one in sight. Irma frowned and picked up the paper bird. It was made with pastel yellow paper, folded neatly, and charmed expertly to seem really quite life like.

"Where on earth have you come from?" she muttered still looking around for the source of the origami bird.

Something flickered in her eyeline and her head lifted to see another bird, this one was made in soft pink paper, fluttering in the dimming daylight. Hesitantly Irma stood up and held her hand out so the bird could settle in the palm of her hand. _What on earth was going on?_ This was something that had never happened to her before; this was a new experience in the library even after the previous six years. She walked a few steps to the end of the aisle and peered left, and then right. There was still no one around; she hadn't even heard anyone in what felt like hours already.

"You know, as a Slytherin, I expected you to be cleverer than that."

The voice came out of nowhere but Irma immediately sensed a presence above her. Her eyes were drawn up one of the main bookcases where the shelves went up forever and they were so wide that people could sit on them to read. About six metres above her was another seventh year peering over the edge of the shelf at her.

It was Dottie Morrison. She was a seventh - year too. Ravenclaw prefect and Quidditch Captain. She must have been sitting up on the shelving longer than Irma had been in the library.

"Have you been up there all this time?" she asked indignantly

Dottie swung her legs over the edge of the shelving and laughed. "You seem so offended, Irma."

"Maybe not offended, but it's a little strange that you've been sat up there watching me," Irma responded as Dottie summoned the ladder so that she could climb down.

"Now it's my turn to be offended," Dottie replied, climbing down rung by rung and occasionally stopping to peer at a book spine. "You should know that I am a studious Ravenclaw and therefore have been reading a textbook that Professor Latimer has recommended for Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"And making paper animals too apparently," Irma said as she held out the paper bird with one raised eyebrow.

The bird took off into the air disappearing from sight completely alongside it's previous pastel yellow compadre. Dottie smiled lopsidedly and raised her arms up to pull her long brown hair up into a hair tie. She twisted it round and round with slender fingers until she secured it with the tie and four strong bobby - pins.

"The book wasn't that interesting," she shrugged before turning to took at the mess on the table.

She moved closer and picked up the first book she could get her hands on. It was labelled: A GUIDE TO STARS AND GALAXIES.

"How is this going to help with your Ancient Rune translations?" Dottie asked curiously peering down at Irma's scattered pieces of parchment.

"I have other subjects than just Runes," Irma replied hotly.

She moved in between the Ravenclaw and her work and tried to pull things together into a somewhat neater pile than the sprawl across the table. Dottie moved back watching her intently as she did. Irma felt oddly uncomfortable and her thoughts turned to the reason why Dottie Morrison was suddenly talking to her. She turned back to her, one foot crossing over the other slightly, and frowned.

"Do you need something?"

"Do I have to need something?" Dottie asked. "Can I not just want to talk to one of my fellow year mates?"

"It has been six years. Why start being so sociable now?" Irma replied simply.

"MacDonald said I'd like you."

 _MacDonald? As in John MacDonald?_ John was Head - Boy and in Hufflepuff; Irma and him were scheduled to patrol together later in the Dungeons and on the Grounds.

"You _are_ quite witty for a Slyth." Dottie said.

"Are you going to get to the point?" Irma asked with an ever so small smirk on her face.

"MacDonald is going home for a few days; his mother has just given birth to his sister and Headmaster Dumbledore gave him special permission to leave to visit them in St Mungo's." Dottie explained.

"That's nice of Dumbledore."

"So I'm patrolling with you before the big Hufflepuff Party tonight." she continued. "You are going right?"

Irma raised her wand soundlessly and all but four of the books on the table shot off into the air to return to their rightful places. Now that Dottie was asking her directly whether she was going made her nervous. She made it sound like it would be a complete travesty if Irma were not to go for some reason.

"Of course I am." she replied before sitting back down at the table. "Is that all? Can I return to my work now?"

"You got it Pince." Dottie grinned before beginning to walk away, but then she stopped and turned back to Irma, smile evident even from the side. "By the way, for number six you're supposed to be using the celtic rune system, not the nordic rune system. See you in the prefect common room at nine."

Dottie Morrison practically skipped off and Irma furiously flipped back through the parchment to find question six.

 _Of course the bloody Ravenclaw was correct._

Irma was left alone in the dim light once more attempting to correct her mistake. She worked until the torchlights burst to life filling the library with a natural glow at about seven o'clock before packing away in the silence. As Irma headed for the doors all that could be heard were her footsteps and the distant sound of _those bloody paper birds._

* * *

 **10:07AM**

 **10th February 1960**

* * *

"I forgot that you were a smart alek then too." Irma responded light - heartedly. "Now let's go. I don't want to be late."

They left the flat and headed down through the building and out into the street beyond. They walked closely linked together for support on the icy pavement outside. The conversation turned to memories from their days together in Hogwarts.

Irma supposed there was some truth to Dottie's assumption. She had certainly made for an interesting last year at Hogwarts after their meeting in the library. The library of Hogwarts would forever hold a place in her heart for that and for so many other reasons. At first it had been a sanctuary; a place of safety. Then later it became an adventure; every day Irma searched for a new section until she'd found them all. Then at the end it was a meeting point for friends and more.

Of course Irma hadn't lied before. She had wanted to work there since she was eleven, because at eleven, Irma wanted nothing more than to read every book in the school library. As she'd grown and become less naive, she'd realised she would never read them all, but her personal mission was to read a book she'd never read every week.

She missed that.

"So what are you going to say then?" Dottie asked later when they were walking through Hogsmeade and up towards the gates of Hogwarts. "When they ask: _why, Miss Pince, would you like to work in Hogwarts' library?_ "

Irma paused to think. "I'm not sure. I think I'm just going to be honest."

"That you just want to read all day and yell at rowdy first years?" Dottie suggested.

"No. Idiot." she sighed with a roll of her eyes.

They stopped at the gates both knowing that Dottie could go no further and would be walking back to Hogsmeade alone whilst Irma walked up through the Hogwarts grounds. Her nerves were being being heavily influenced by the possibility that Irma might not get the job she'd been waiting for ages to see advertised in the paper.

Dottie took her hands and gave her a very serious look.

"You're going to be great." she said. "You're going to blow them away alright?"

"Right," Irma replied; her voice small.

"Hey?" Dottie ducked her head and got in Irma's eyeline. "And when you do get that job you can chase those marauding students out and read at your beautiful oak desk with a cup of tea."

Irma laughed softly and thanked her. The two went their separate ways and on the other side of the gates she looked back to see Dottie just a blur in the softly falling snow. She thought about the question of ' _why she wanted the job_ ' a little bit more and finally decided on the truthful reasoning behind it.

Irma knew.

She knew that if the library was quiet enough, and she listened long and hard, she'd hear them. She'd be sitting at her oak desk and hear the small, but definitive echo of paper wings fluttering in unison high above her head.

That was something she could put up with every day.


End file.
